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Thursday, June 14, 2018

Royal Profile: Prince Henri d'Orléans, The Count of Paris, The Duke of France

Prince Henri Philippe Pierre Marie d'Orléans, The Count of Paris, The Duke of France was born 14 June 1933 as the second child and oldest son of Prince Henri Robert Ferdinand Marie Louis Philippe d'Orléans & Princess Isabelle Marie d'Orléans {Source}. He has the following siblings, siblings-in-law, nieces, nephews, etc {Source}:

Prince Henri was born and raised in Belgium. He visited France with his parents after the repelling of the 1886 law that exiled heirs of former French dynasties in 1950. His grandfather had died in August 1940, making Prince Henri heir to the Orléanists throne. In 1957, his father granted him the title Count of Clermont.

Prince Henri studied at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). After completing his studies, he began his career at the Secretariat-General for National Defence and Security as a member of the French Foreign Legion. In 1962, he became a garrison in Germany, where he became a military instructor in Corsica. He left military life in 1967.

His civilian career lead him to Switzerland, where he managed a public relations firm. He was then lured back to Paris, where he's written several books:

À mes fils (1989)

Adresse au futur chef d'État (1994)

Désolé, Altesse, c’est mon jour de sortie (1994)

La France survivra-t-elle à l'an 2000 (1997)

Le passeur de miroir (2000)

La France à bout de bras (2002)

L'histoire en héritage (2003)

La Royauté de l'Homme (2016)

Henri is also a painter and has launched his own brand of perfume. In addition, he unsuccessfully contested the 2004 European elections for the Alliance Royale.

On 5 July 1957, he married Duchess Marie Therese of Württemberg (1934). Together, they have five children, three children-in-law, and 12 grandchildren {Source}:

The couple divorced in 1984, and Prince Henri married Micaëla Anna María Cousiño y Quiñones de León, Duchess of Montpensier, Princess de Joinville later that same year. Prince Henri's second marriage was not met without controversy. Many of his family did not speak to him for several years. On 11 February 1989 Clermont was informed, by a hand-delivered letter written by his former wife, of the engagement of their eldest child Marie, to Prince Gundakar of Liechtenstein, the wedding date being set for 29 July 1989. Prince Henri had not seen his daughter in thee years, and due to his daughter's pending nuptials he and his wife were welcomed into his mother's home, but he learned that day that he would not be escorting his eldest daughter down the aisle. His former wife had chosen to send out invitations to the wedding in her name only, omitting both her father and paternal grandfather (head of house) from the invitations. This little omission prompted Prince Henri Robert d'Orléans to call for a family boycott of the wedding. Princess Marie chose to proceed with her wedding anyway, marrying in France civilly, on 22 July 1989, and religiously a week later in Germany, Prince Henri's only relatives in attendance were Princess Diane Françoise Marie d'Orléans, Duchess of Württembergand his mother attended the religious ceremony. After several years of tensions, his father re-instated him as heir apparent, granting his second wife the title Princess de Joinville.